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Hawaii State Holidays
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 This holiday is observed on the last Monday of the month of May. It is said to be the saddest of all days for it is observed in memory of the hundreds of thousands of American men and women who died in defense of this great country. It is on this day that flowers are cast on the oceans to honor those who died at sea. In a similar gesture, American flags are placed on the graves of those who are buried in cemeteries in America and in foreign lands. The President usually places a wreath in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia at the Tomb of the Unknowns. This is similarly done by other government and military officials in numerous other cemeteries throughout the country and in other countries were Americans are buried. All across America there are parades, speeches, and ceremonies to remember and pay tribute to military personnel who have given up their lives for their country. Flags fly at half-mast on government buildings and on US navy and commercial ships throughout the world as a fitting tribute to the dead. At Gettysburg Memorial Park, in Pennsylvania, there is a service of remembrance to mark a major battle that occurred there during the Civil War. There are many who travel from all parts of the country to visit cemeteries and the recently erected Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., which contains the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died during the Vietnam War. At the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor where more than a thousand US Navy personnel have been entombed with the USS Arizona, a memorial service is held every year. Flower leis are cast into the sea where the ship lies permanently a few fathoms just beneath the surface. The memorial service is usually capped off with a twenty-one gun salute, the firing of three volleys, and a military bugler playing "taps." Many veterans, families of veterans and their friends attend this solemn ceremony. You will always find most of them standing by and watching ... and usually with a tear in their eyes. A similar memorial service is likewise held at the Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery in Honolulu where thousands of American men and women are buried. These are the people who served in the armed forces of the United States and who died in defense of America and in its quest for freedom and democracy. It includes those who died during the last world War, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and in the recent conflicts in other places around the world. The local Boy Scouts here have taken it upon themselves to place small American flags on each gravesite. It is a sight to behold seeing all the tiny flags waving as the wind goes through the gentle slopes of the cemetery grounds. There are also relatives who visit the cemetery to pray at gravesites and decorate the graves of their departed love ones. Many of the graves are decorated with an assortment of beautiful Hawaiian flowers and leis. A gesture which resembles the Greek and Roman tradition of honoring the dead with flowers or branches on certain days. No one is sure exactly how Memorial Day started. It was believed, however, that the Southerners were the first ones to observe Memorial Day. The story goes that just about two years after the civil war, there were women in Columbus, Mississippi who decorated the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers with magnolia blossoms. Later, violets and roses were also used. This was taken as a fine and welcome gesture in those heartsore days that the custom spread and ultimately became an American tradition. In 1873, New York became the first state to make it a legal holiday. The United States Congress made it an official holiday for federal government employees in 1887. At first it was called Decoration Day, but the name Memorial Day gradually became accepted. In the South, many states also observe Confederate Memorial Day to honor the soldiers who fought in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Whatever the flower, wherever the grave, this placing of flowers upon graves of American men and women who gave up their lives in defense of America has always seemed the natural thing to do on Memorial Day. |
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